Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I’m not sure Greenville is that inexpensive. Is it important to you to build a house vs buy one? Why? I’m not sure that’s usually compatible with walkability.
Greenville is way, way too Southern for me too for the record. I would never want my kids to grow up there.
My mom likes with us and needs a handicap accessible house. Thought it would be easier to build a small, one level house with those specifications which we would also use to age in place.
I live in a walkable neighborhood in a Southern town, not too different from the ones you mentioned, and buildable lots in the walkable neighborhoods are very rare. Tear downs are very common, though, which means it’s certainly doable, but probably more expensive than you’re thinking. Especially after covid, the cost of real estate in any these attractive Southern towns has risen dramatically, and they aren’t the bargain they used to be. Nicely renovate houses in my neighborhood a few blocks from downtown sell for @ $575 a square foot. There are cheaper houses being built in cookie cutter subdivisions on the edge of town, but that’s not what most DC types have in mind when they consider retiring to a smaller “lower cost of living” town.